A Letter from the NGSCA President -- Letter sent on January 1, 2021 via eNews to eNews subscribers
Dear Gum Springs Residents & Supporters,
As we welcome 2021, the Gum Springs community must continue to remember its past because history seems to repeat itself. If we do not remember our past, how can we move forward for the future particularly when the Gum Springs community had some of the same concerns more than 50 years ago that remains unresolved as we move into 2021?
As we approach the first major African American federal holiday for 2021, we plan to use Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s sermon Rediscovering Lost Values as a guide and hope you will too. Dr. King’s 1954 sermon is applicable more than 65 years later--amazing! Click here to read the sermon as posted by Stanford University, Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. Click here to hear the sermon in the voice of Dr. King. The sermon is 30 minutes and 25 seconds long.
In remembering our past, there have been many studies, reports and surveys conducted on/about Gum Springs. Based on concerns identified by Gum Springs residents, the same or similar guiding principles, objectives, goals, recommendations, and findings were a common theme in the research and finalization of the documents.
Here are three of those documents that were applicable then and more so decades later:
General (1979):
Community Perceptions (1987):
The Civic Association will also continue to address matters that inhibit the quality of life for Gum Springs residents such as:
Do not forget Gum Springs Motto: Things Get Solved...When You Get Involved!
Finally, the Civic Association is looking for a prosperous year and hope that all Gum Springs residents will support their all-volunteer community organization through either "sweat equity" or a "monetary" expression regardless of the area of Gum Springs you reside. Pay your dues ($10 per person per year--a real bargain!) and/or donate. Click here to pay dues or donate online or make your check payable to NGSCA and mail to PO Box 6112, Alexandria, VA 22306.
Sincerely,
Queenie Cox
President, NGSCA
As we welcome 2021, the Gum Springs community must continue to remember its past because history seems to repeat itself. If we do not remember our past, how can we move forward for the future particularly when the Gum Springs community had some of the same concerns more than 50 years ago that remains unresolved as we move into 2021?
As we approach the first major African American federal holiday for 2021, we plan to use Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s sermon Rediscovering Lost Values as a guide and hope you will too. Dr. King’s 1954 sermon is applicable more than 65 years later--amazing! Click here to read the sermon as posted by Stanford University, Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. Click here to hear the sermon in the voice of Dr. King. The sermon is 30 minutes and 25 seconds long.
In remembering our past, there have been many studies, reports and surveys conducted on/about Gum Springs. Based on concerns identified by Gum Springs residents, the same or similar guiding principles, objectives, goals, recommendations, and findings were a common theme in the research and finalization of the documents.
Here are three of those documents that were applicable then and more so decades later:
- The Gum Springs Neighborhood Improvement Program Conservation Plan adopted by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors (BOS) during 1979 (1979);
- A community design study and economic survey conducted in 1987 for the Saunders B. Moon Community Action Association through a grant provided by Southeast Fairfax Development Corporation (1987); and
- The Gum Springs Redevelopment Plan approved by the BOS during 1990 (1990).
General (1979):
- Gum Springs is sound, a combination of economic, environmental and transportation problems, coupled with large amounts of vacant land, threatens the stability and character of the community.
Community Perceptions (1987):
- Long-time residents of the area perceive the community as an important historic black enclave which has been somewhat ignored by the surrounding larger predominantly white upper middle class community.
- Newer residents established basically around the border of the community are predominantly white middle class families, who through their homeowner organizations, maintain contact with the activities of the community organizations for informational purposes but prefer not to actively participate in the planning of those community activities. These residents do not appear to consider themselves as Gum Springs residents per se.
- The County Park Authority has plans to develop the flood plain of Little Hunting Creek as a stream valley park, including a recreational trail which would link the community to Mount Vernon. This trail would re-establish the historic trail link between Gum Springs and Mount Vernon.
- Traffic congestion at Sherwood Hall Lane and Fordson Road
- Improve traffic flow
- Need for traffic control at Richmond Highway & Napper Road
- Residents exhibit frustration as to the inaction of the implementation of the improvement plan objectives. This results in distrust of new governmental and any outside developer plan proposals presented for property within the community.
The Civic Association will also continue to address matters that inhibit the quality of life for Gum Springs residents such as:
- fighting against the systemic racism that the 11 homeowners on Holland Court aka Holland Court Property Owners Association re-introduced into the Gum Springs community during 2020 because they live on Holland Court. Gum Springs is one community with one voice and that voice is the Civic Association;
- finalizing requirements associated with the $60,000 heritage grant as the first step towards Gum Springs obtaining a historical designation after finally being recognized as the first African American community established more than 187 years ago in Fairfax County that has a direct connection to the first U.S.A. president, George Washington, and the Mount Vernon Estate;
- ensuring Gum Springs residents know the difference between the heritage grant and the draft Gum Springs Conservation Plan submitted to the County during 2015 for final review and approval by the BOS that affords the community protection from the dismantling of the community's identity. Neither are related; but, instrumental in the preservation of Gum Springs;
- ensuring Gum Springs seat at the table during traffic mitigation plans with the Mount Vernon Supervisor, Fairfax Department of Transportation and VDOT that is a required proffer condition as approved by the BOS in the INOVA Mount Vernon expansion plans. Although traffic congestion has been minimized during COVID-19, now is the time to address certain traffic issues to include but not limited to:
- proposed traffic signal at the INOVA Mount Vernon Hospital main entrance off Parkers Lane and not Holland Road. Traffic signal was proposed to alleviate traffic impact on Parkers Lane, Holland Road, Fordson Road and Sherwood Hall Lane. The completion of Potomac Trace with a projection of at least 128 vehicles with no agreed recommended resolution resulting from its traffic study will impact Holland Road;
- illegal turn/through lanes on Fordson Road at the intersection of Sherwood Hall Lane & Fordson and intersection at Fordson Road & Richmond Highway; and
- safety signs such as "Do Not Block" on Sherwood Hall Lane at Parkers Lane, Holland Road, Mt. Woodley and Fordson Road.
Do not forget Gum Springs Motto: Things Get Solved...When You Get Involved!
Finally, the Civic Association is looking for a prosperous year and hope that all Gum Springs residents will support their all-volunteer community organization through either "sweat equity" or a "monetary" expression regardless of the area of Gum Springs you reside. Pay your dues ($10 per person per year--a real bargain!) and/or donate. Click here to pay dues or donate online or make your check payable to NGSCA and mail to PO Box 6112, Alexandria, VA 22306.
Sincerely,
Queenie Cox
President, NGSCA